Six yogic Asanas for better (litigation) practice

Please note that these Asanas have been penned down keeping litigation lawyers in mind. Many notable yogis including those who are currently busy walking the corridors of the Supreme Court have been consulted before writing this article.

These Asanas can be meditative poses or they can be postures aimed towards attaining strength, steadiness and briefs. Apart from the spiritual and monetary benefits, each Asana also has its specific health benefits.

Breathe in – Breathe out: no matter/case can ever be so severely damaged in one hearing that it cannot be set right, so breathe. I have heard (from the yogis) that this also applies to cases before the Supreme Court. There is always a way out. Also, what fun is practice if there are no surprises? And that too at someone else’s cost. Note to my future clients: I never practice this.

For novices, some facts about this Asana. Breathing is said to infuse oxygen in the body thus lending your tired brain with a new lease on life. This is especially required to get through long research nights before important court hearings.

However, note that this Asana should never be practiced with a cigarette in hand. Further, the breathing Asana is said to give most benefits if practiced when faced with either a thick headed client and/or judge.

Walk: walk the corridors of courts rigorously and purposefully. Let your lawyer brethren know that your diary is full with matters and you mean business when you come to courts. This helps in building a repute as well as lower body strength.

Skip the lift: again like walking this has its own health benefits. This also helps one to meet and greet other similarly placed legal eagles, socialise and stay on top of the court gossip. Which can sometimes even help you win cases. This can also lead to a chance invitation to someone’s marriage and then to further growth and glory.

Write: actually don’t. It is this verbal diarrhea which is costing us our forests. As Lord Denning must have said in one of his judgments you don’t need to be a literary genius to do justice.

Think: there is always a more easy and efficient way of doing anything. This Asana of regularly flexing your Brain muscle is forgotten when one is rushing through a busy court day. Busy court days are times when this Asana should be religiously practiced.

Think. Plan. And prioritize

The yogis tell me that it is important to gauze through fake deadlines. And recognise the difference between urgent & important and the urgent & unimportant.

Eating: Lastly but in no manner the least, is the ever important Asana of eating. This as a matter of fact is not just an Asana but a Yagna (known to all in the Indian Sub-continent, Yagna is a sacred ritual involving the sacred fire, ranging higher in order to an Asana). To be done when one is completely at peace with oneself and the world around. It is also what you are in this profession for, at least in most cases.

Energy generated by burning the food, fuels ones professional as well as personal life. This Yagna can never be taken lightly. Our elders have allotted specific times when food should be partaken, considering the rotations and revolutions of our mother earth. As our modern day yogis would tell us missing a matter would do no damage but missing a days’ meal can wreak havoc.

Young lawyers should especially note that no compromise can ever be reached at when it is a matter of lunch or dinner.

Aishwarya is a practicing lawyer in Bangalore. She has in the past worked with Jyoti Sagar Associates and Poovayya & Poovayya. She is an alumna of Symbiosis International University, Pune and Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. During her post graduation her main area of research was environmental justice and issues relating to access to justice for the marginalized in environmental and livelihood issues.

Good one Aishwarya 🙂 I think these Asanas can be performed by each and every individual in their day to day life in what ever profession they are in.
As you mentioned its identifying the subtlety between urgent and important n urgent and unimportant things which decides how we behave in any situation.